Fall of Mercury
by Bitter Grace
Summary: A look at the last days of Mercury during the Silver Millennium.



    Sailor Moon: Hidden Years
    THE FALL OF MERCURY
    Part One: Storm Warning
    Ami, Princess and heir to the Throne of Mercury, didn't
    bother announcing herself as she entered her mother's private
    study. Although it was nearing midnight, the Mercurian Queen
    showed no signs of flagging as she reviewed the Council schedule
    for the following day. She glanced up from her desk top as her
    daughter shut the door and seated herself in the chair across
    from her. Athena smiled, and let the papers drop to her
    desk. "What brings you here, my daughter, so late at night?"
    she asked, plucking the solid gold barrettes out of her short
    blue hair.
    Ami didn't return her mother's smile. "I've been having
    disturbing dreams lately, Mother," she said quietly. "Full of
    darkness and death."
    Athena stilled, her face paling in the faint
    lamplight. "Tell me daughter," she requested softly.
    "I dreamed I was visiting Idun on Saturn," Ami started,
    brushing a long lock of blue hair behind her ear. "We were in
    the Royal Gardens, just talking and laughing, about Keith, I
    think. Then, the sky clouded over, a great Darkness covered the
    planet. And I saw Idun fall, badly injured by an evil I can't
    describe, but not fatally. Suddenly, I was on Venus, and
    witnessing Aphrodite being murdered by the same insidious
    presence that hurt Idun." She frowned in worry. "Then I was on
    Mercury, and the same evil was here." Ami looked up, and fear
    shadowed her eyes. "It killed you, Mother. In the dream, you
    were standing below my balcony, and the darkness killed you as I
    watched."
    Athena went stark white and a long moment passed in
    uneasy silence. "Daughter," she said shakily. "There is
    something you should know." She sighed and massaged the bridge
    of her nose. "I received word today that Saturn has been taken,
    and destroyed. The Queen is dead, the princess badly injured
    and taken refuge on the Moon with Serenity. And Queen Aphrodite
    is dead as well, along with Christian, the younger Aphrodite's
    fiancé." She hesitated, then continued. "The latest
    intelligence reports indicate that this Darkness, what we are
    calling the NegaForce, is moving toward Mercury."
    Ami's face went ashen and she closed her eyes. However
    badly she felt for Minako and Hotaru's losses, it was completely
    dwarfed by the sudden rush of fear through her body. And the
    guilt for feeling so.
    Athena smiled humourlessly. "I have felt this NegaVerse
    Queen's vile presence, as have the other rulers of the Silver
    Millennium." She sighed. "We paid it no mind. Now two are
    dead. Two worlds are lost." She looked at her daughter
    then. "You are far more sensitive than I in matters of
    prophetic dreams."
    "My Morphean blood again?"
    Athena nodded slowly. "Yes, daughter. And I fear that
    your dreams of Mercury's fall will come to pass." Suddenly, she
    looked very old, and very tired. "There is something I wish to
    give you, Ami," she said, rising from her desk and crossing the
    exquisitely decorated room to a safe in the wall. She pressed
    her hand against the panel, which then slid aside. "Do you
    remember the stories I used to tell you when you were a little
    girl? The stories of the Earth Amazons and the firstborn
    daughters of the Silver Millennium?"
    Ami frowned in confusion. "Of course," she
    said. "Those were my favourite bedtime stories when I was a
    child. Why do you ask?"
    Athena pulled an object from the safe and turned away
    from the wall. "They weren't just bedtime stories, Ami," she
    said gently, looking kindly at her daughter. "They were truths
    that have been passed down from mother to daughter for the past
    ten generations. As have these objects." She glanced down at
    the two items she'd taken from the small vault. One was a foot
    in length, a silvery blue staff with the planetary sigil of
    Mercury crowning the top. A small blue stone was set into the
    heart of the sigil. The other object was smaller than the
    first, a blue penlike device with a small sigil at the top.
    Ami caught her breath. "Are those what I think they
    are?" she asked incredulously, eyes locked onto the mythic
    things her mother held.
    Athena nodded. She raised the larger object. "This is
    the Staff of Mercury, all that remains of Alosha's Imperial Mind
    Talisman," she replied. "And this is the Mercury henshin
    wand." She fell silent for a moment before resuming her
    explanations. "It is custom for the Queen of Mercury to give
    this henshin wand to her firstborn daughter on her eighteenth
    birthday," she continued. "It is some months early yet, but I
    have a feeling that you'll have need of it before your
    birthday." She shook her head sadly. "Only Dain, Alosha's
    granddaughter, ever used it after it was made. It's so sad to
    think that almost eight hundred years of peace are ending now."
    "I know," Ami replied quietly, accepting the henshin
    wand and staring at it. "I know."
    ** **
    Reports of the NegaVerse's progress came in at regular
    intervals, but it wasn't until three weeks later, as Ami was
    eating a solitary breakfast in her suite of rooms, that the
    first attack came. As everything crashed down around, she
    dashed headlong out onto her balcony, her long blue hair waving
    like a banner behind her. She stopped dead just outside of the
    doors, an eerie feeling of déjà vu crawling up and down her
    spine. A vast darkness filled the horizon as far as her blue
    eyes could possibly ever dream of seeing. There was no sunlight,
    no emerald expanses of the heavens. Black clouds roiled and
    seethed in the skies, and shadows with glowing red eyes and
    gleaming yellow fangs danced with malevolent evil upon the
    winds. Dark warriors were gathering within the boundaries of the
    City. At the fore of the amassing legions, riding point on a
    dark cloud, was a twisted, snakelike, pinch-faced woman with
    claws for hands, fangs instead of teeth, and wild red hair.
    And standing below Ami's balcony, looking very small and
    very helpless against the numbers of the dark forces, was her
    mother, Queen Athena.
    "Mama?" Ami called to her, worry and fear sharpening her
    tone. "What are you doing?"
    Athena didn't move. She didn't even turn her head
    around. She just stood there, tightly clasping her hands to her
    chest, the legendary Staff of Mercury wedged firmly between her
    palms. "Ami, turn around," she said sharply. "Go back inside.
    This has nothing to do with you."
    "No," Ami rebelled, reaching for the railing and
    preparing to climb over it to get to her mother's side. "I
    refuse to abandon you like this. I won't leave!"
    The snakish woman in the sky snickered nastily. "How
    noble, foolish Princess," she crooned, and her voice matched her
    appearance, harsh and scratchy. She raised a taloned hand. "It
    matters not who dies first, the daughter or the mother. The
    other one will soon follow."
    Athena swallowed hard, and straightened her
    shoulders. "Leave her out of this, Beryl," she ordered.
    Ami clapped a hand to her mouth in horror. So this
    insidious and vile Queen was the infamous Queen Beryl, destroyer
    of worlds and would-be conqueror of the universe. Already
    attached to her name was the annihilation of two of the Silver
    Millennium planets, Saturn and Venus. And now she was here,
    looking to add the peaceful world of Mercury to her list.
    Beryl chortled. "Your daughter poses as much of a
    threat as you do, Athena," she snapped. "Do you really think
    that the Queen of the NegaVerse has a heart? I don't care about
    your stupid daughter any more than I care about you. You and
    all of the pathetic rulers of all the pathetic worlds of the
    Silver Millennium are little more than obstacles in my path to
    total conquest."
    Athena's lips tightened. "We'll stop you, you twisted
    witch."
    Beryl sneered. "You can do nothing, Queen of Mercury.
    You will only be able to watch as your planet dies." She paused
    dramatically, then raised a hand that began to radiate with dark
    energy. "I think I'll start with your precious Princess
    Athena!" With a roar, she shot her hand out in front of her,
    and unleashed a stream of black power at the young, blue-haired
    royal, who was still standing frozen on the balcony.
    *Princess! Watch out!*
    The telepathic scream rang in Ami's mind as a brown blur
    with a golden streak gleaming on its forehead dashed towards
    the immobile princess like shadowed lightning. Eclipse, Ami's
    friend and mentor, leapt desperately in front of her just as the
    lethal wave reached her.
    Ami fell aside as the small chestnut feline barrelled
    into her, knocking her away from the beam's path, and she landed
    heavily on her side. She stared in horror, mouth agape as
    Eclipse hung suspended in the center of the black flux, writhing
    in agony. As the energy subsided, the tortured feline plunged
    to the ground. Only Ami's outstretched hands saved the cat from
    cracking her skull open on the hard stone surface of the terrace.
    Ami's hands flew over the cat's limp body. "Eclipse!"
    she called frantically. "Eclipse!" Eclipse's eyes fluttered,
    but there was no other response from her furred and injured
    friend.
    Ami sat back on her heels and gently laid the cat down
    on the cold stone floor. She stared in shock as Eclipse spasmed
    and then stilled. Grief choked her throat. "Eclipse," she
    whispered brokenly, and then found she could say no more.
    Shaking with Infinite rage, she rose fluidly and turned to face
    Beryl with eyes of ice.
    The Princess and the Dark Queen held gazes for an
    incalculable period of time. Athena, growing uneasy with the
    steel and fury in her daughter's eyes, cried, "Ami! No!"
    Her attention drawn away from Ami's pinning stare, Queen
    Beryl broke eye contact. She grinned maliciously. "Do forgive
    me, Queen Athena," she said sweetly. "I didn't mean to leave
    you for so long. Where were we? Ah, yes, now I remember. I
    was about to obliterate you." Again, the black energy began to
    build around her clawed hands, and she raised them threateningly.
    Ami's mother staunchly held her ground as Beryl and her
    warriors slowly advanced upon the Palace. Another beam of dark
    power blasted at Athena, but there was no brave soul to save the
    Queen like Eclipse had saved Ami. It smashed into Athena like
    she was no more than a rag doll and knocked her backwards over
    thirty feet. But Athena remained standing. Beryl snarled and
    increased the intensity of her attack as the Mercury Queen
    started to push her way forward against the force of the assault.
    "You'll find...I'm not so...easy to...get rid
    of...Beryl," she ground out from between gritted teeth as she
    steadily moved forward. She was panting with the exertion of
    going against the energy attack, and beads of sweat appeared on
    her forehead from the pain. "I trained...all my life for...just
    an...event like this...and I...can handle...anything you can
    throw..at me..."
    Beryl snorted. "I doubt that very much, Athena," she
    scoffed. The darkness pouring from her hands increased yet
    again, and Athena screamed with the torture. Ami's eyes widened
    as her mother thrashed in the murky rays. "Mother!" she
    screamed, feeling that sense déjà vu once again. She was
    powerless to do anything but watch as her mother disappeared
    into the lightless beam. The Queen reappeared after an endless
    moment, her flesh and the cloth of her dress smoking. "Mother!"
    Ami screamed again, reaching a helpless hand out towards her
    stricken mother.
    "Ami!" Athena screamed, twisting around. She toppled
    forward, her arms flying up and out. The Staff of Mercury was
    thrown from the Queen's failing grip. It sailed through the air,
    tumbling and twisting, rotating top over bottom, its silvery
    blue shaft shining in the faint light fighting to get through
    the gloom obscuring the sky.
    Ami later could not remember moving at all. One moment,
    she was watching as her mother disintegrated into ebony ashes
    and tattered scraps of cloth. The next, she was leaping from
    the railing, soaring towards the falling weapon. Her eyes
    narrowed as her hand shot upwards. The Staff slapped into her
    open palm, and reflexively, her fingers curled around the hilt
    protectively. An instinct she never even considered she had
    burned within her, and she curved and twisted her body expertly
    so that she landed on her feet on the ground below her. She
    rose smoothly and fell into a warrior's stance, the Staff
    extended in front of her, the henshin wand in her other. "Get
    off my planet, Beryl," she said softly. "You have no rights to
    be here. You have no right to attack me, no right to attack my
    guardian, no right to kill my mother." Her eyes glittered
    dangerously. "Get out of my kingdom."
    Beryl looked triumphant, her beady red eyes shining with
    victory. "Your mother was no challenge, Princess," she crowed,
    raising her black staff. "You will be no more a threat than
    she. I'll destroy you just as easily."
    Ami's eyes narrowed. From deep within her, she felt a
    power seethe and come alive, a power that radiated throughout
    her entire body. She lifted the Staff slightly. "You may take
    me out, Beryl," she said evenly. "But I'm going to kick your
    ass before you do." She spun the Staff around her fingers, then
    held it aloft with a rough jerk. "MERCURY PLANET POWER!" she
    shouted, and a dazzling blue light illuminated the heavens as
    the ancient weapon sparked to life. Blue flame flared into
    being around the Princess.
    "Pathetic!" Beryl spat as she waved the first assault of
    her warriors forward. "Prepare to join your mother in oblivion,
    Princess of Mercury!"
    Ami held her ground as the strike force approached. The
    white-knuckled grip she had on the Staff tightening
    perceptibly. In pairs and in groups, the black, misshapen
    beings attacked the Princess. And in pairs and in groups, they
    encountered the shield surrounding her and screamed as they
    vaporized. Despite herself, she laughed. "Is this the best you
    have, Beryl?" she asked. Not bothering for a response of any
    kind, she hefted the Staff again and shouted, "MERCURY SILVER
    ICE RAZE!"
    From nowhere, tiny droplets of sparkling ice crystals
    spun into existence and spiralled through the air. Everywhere,
    the dark beings shrieked and fled as the icy razors sliced into
    them. A shimmering cloud of the tiny weapons surrounded the
    evil Queen, deftly slicing through her dark defenses and
    ruthlessly impaling her with their miniscule, razor-sharp
    edges. Beryl screamed in pain and rage, casting black, writhing
    energy all around her.
    *Keep it going, young Queen,* a deep voice resonated in
    her mind. *I will lend you what strength I may.*
    Her mind narrowed down to that one moment, her attention
    concentrated on nothing else but pouring energy into the Staff.
    From deep within herself, she felt a rumbling, and her eyes
    narrowed as energy lowed into her from what she instinctively
    knew to be the heart of the planet. Sudden words floated to the
    surface of her mind, and she sucked in a quick breath. "MERCURY
    GLACIAL ICE COLLISION!" she screamed, lifting the Staff higher.
    Two thick sheets of ice shot up from the ground,
    trapping the dark queen between them. As they slowly moved
    toward each other, Beryl screamed a wordless curse and blasted
    her way out of the heavy ice sheets. Ami noted in grim
    satisfaction that, although the ice hadn't killed her, the dark
    Queen had severely wounded herself making her escape.
    "I will be back to exact my revenge, Athena!" Beryl spat
    between gasps of pain. "You have bought your pathetic world a
    few days more. But it will fall." Slowly, the Queen faded from
    sight, leaving Ami standing alone in the torn and ravaged
    courtyard, sourrounded by black ichor and various body parts,
    all that remained of the first wave of invaders.
    For a long moment, there was absolute silence, and then
    the servants began creeping from the Palace, bowing
    deferentially to her as they passed.
    One face she dimly recognized as her mother's Captain of
    the Guard -- hers now, she thought dispassionately -- approached
    her, looking wary and cautious of her unmoving, expressionless
    face. "Your Majesty," he said carefully, making the change in
    title plain. He opened his mouth to say more, but the rest of
    his words never made it past his lips.
    "Queen Athena XI," Ami murmured with a more-than-half
    hysterical laugh. "Queen Ami I." Then, her mind slid into
    darkness and her body fel bonelessly to a heap on the
    cobblestones of the castle courtyard.
    ********
    


End file.
